I began my showbusiness career in the spring of 1954 impersonating the singer Johnnie Ray on the Tony Grant TV show in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania.
I first heard Johnnie Ray on the radio and asked my sister who the girl was who was singing. She said it wasn’t a girl, but a guy who was very emotional onstage. Johnnie’s performance was galvanizing. He would drop to his knees and cry, and pull on his hair. He would take the microphone off its stand, and go into the audience as he sang. At the time, no singers had ever done these things. When I saw him perform at the Paramount Theater in New York, I was totally mesmerized. At home, I would play his records and imitate his singing style, and dream of performing with him.
Me performing as Johnnie Ray, 1954.
A cousin of mine suggested that I come out to Wilkesbarre and audition for the Tony Grant TV Show, a predecessor to shows like The Voice or American Idol. Tony had me on several times, and invited me to join him in his revue that summer at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.
Me with Tony Grant at the revue, 1954.
One afternoon during the run of the revue, I was told that Johnnie wanted to see my impersonation of him. Afterwards, he congratulated me on a “sincere performance”, and took me by the hand to the main room at the Steel Pier, where he was appearing. For the next week, I performed with Johnnie, impersonating him, and the dream came true.
I also auditioned for Ted Mack’s amateur hour, and appeared on his show that summer, doing my impersonation of Johnnie Ray. What a summer.
Bernard Rachelle began his professional career at George Hamids's Steel Pier in Atlantic City with his idol Johnny Ray, whom he impersonated. That summer he appeared on Ted Mack's amateur hour and made a subsequent appearance two years later.
In 1959 Bernard introduced rock and roll to Israel and appeared opposite Topol in the comedy feature film "I Like Mike".
Soap fans will recall his role as photographer/pornographer Stu Samuels opposite Sylvia Miles and Kim Delaney on "All My Children".
He is most proud of his work on Arthur Miller's "Incident at Vichy". The first New York City revival that Mr. Miller attended was in 1981. Years later Mr. Miller graced 4 staged readings with "Bernie", along with varying casts featuring Richard Dreyfuss, Fritz Weaver, Peter Weller, Austin Pendelton, F. Murray Abraham and Barry Primus.
While his film career spans 3 decades including "Fort Apache, The Bronx", "Rollover", "Blowout", "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "The Yards", in 2006 Bernard co-starred as Chaim opposite Denzel Washington and Clive Owen in Spike Lee's "Inside Man".
Recently, Bernard played the lead, Edgar, in the short film "The Cemetery Club", winner of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, and Schleimann in the Vlad Nikolic cult film "Zenith". In 2013 he appeared as Judge Glaser in the feature film "Rob the Mob." "Courier X," released in 2016, saw him play a diamond examiner.
On the small screen, Bernard currently appears in an Emblem Health Insurance commercial.
Bernard has written and will soon perform his one man show "Abe & Lillian's Bungalow Colony", a take-off on the Catskills Mountains, set in 1977.
Bernard is a proud member of ARTC - American Renaissance Theatre.
